From The New Humanitarian, Feb. 13

Image: INPACT

“The initial 14 [deportees] were brought to Ghana on Sept. 6,” lead lawyer Oliver Barker-Vormawor explained to media outlets. “Three were deported [from Ghana] that night. Eleven were held in military detention. Out of that 11, 10 were deported with the matter in court, and eight of them are in Togo.”

The deportations arose from a “third country deportation” agreement between the US and Ghana earlier this year. Ghana’s parliamentary minority bloc has now called for its suspension, as leaders claim the government entered into the agreement without proper legislative approval. Samuel Abu Jinapor, a ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Ghana’s Parliament, argued:

The government’s conduct in operationalizing the agreement with the United States without parliamentary ratification is a direct constitutional violation of Article 75 and an affront to the authority of the [Ghanan] Supreme Court. It is therefore deeply concerning that the government continues to operationalize the agreement despite this flagrant operational breach.

Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told local media that the decision to enter into the agreement was not a signal of support for the US administration, but rather a decision “grounded purely on humanitarian principle and Pan-African empathy.” However, reports have claimed that Ablakwa and President John Mahama may also be motivated by the hope that the White House will lift travel restrictions on Ghanaians entering the US as consideration for the agreement.

After initial pushback from federal courts, in July the US Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to enter into third-country deportation agreements with multiple nations, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Eswatini, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. International organizations have warned that the policy risks great harm to individuals, and skirts government accountability.

The West African deportees also filed a lawsuit in the US courts last month, asserting that they were taken from an immigration facility, shackled, placed in straitjackets, and flown to Ghana in a cargo plane without meaningful notice or hearing.

From JURIST, Oct. 7. Used with permission.

Photo: Venezuelan deportees in Honduras. Credit: ICE via Wikimedia Commons

The Homeland Study Group Foundation advocates for the independence of Western Togoland, an ethnically distinct region that was separated from what became the adjoining nation of Togo at the end of the colonial era and attached to Ghana. The HSGF holds that the 1956 plebiscite for union with Ghana was illegitimate because Togoland, homeland of the Ewepeople, was then divided between the French-held east (contemporary Togo) and the British-held west.

The ECOWAS Court of Justice rejected Ghana’s argument that the detentions were justified by national security concerns. It also rejected the applicants’ argument that Ghana lacked jurisdiction over the Western Togoland region because it had been denied self-determination. (DL News)

Six members of the more militant Western Togoland Restoration Front (WTRF) were given prison terms in June 2023 in relation to armed roadblocks that WTRF followers erected through the region in late 2020. (GBC Ghana)

Photo: ISS Africa

From The New Humanitarian, April 4

Note: Fluctuations in the price of oil and grain since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022 have contributed to popular privation and unrest worldwide.

Photo: Down To Earth

Orano, which has been present in Niger since 1971, has other operations in the country. A mine at Arkokan has been closed since 2021, but Orano continues to run a uranium mine in the northern region of Arlit. However, exports are beset by what the company calls “logistical” difficulties. Niger, which accounts for about a quarter of the natural uranium supplied to Europe, is landlocked, depending on sea access through neighboring Benin. And Benin authorities shut the border in May as tensions between the two countries grow.

The dispute also places in jeopardy Niger’s plan to begin exporting oil via a recently completed Chinese-built pipeline through Benin.

Russian companies have meanwhile indicated interest in picking up the uranium mining lease at Imouraren. (Al Jazeera, BBC News, BBC News)

The uranium dispute comes as French and US forces have been forced to withdraw from Niger, and Russian forces have moved in.

Also June 20, the chief of the Pentagon’s Africa Command (AFRICOM), Marine Corps Gen. Michael E. Langley, appeared to confirm that he had had traveled to other West African countries to discuss the stationing of US troops following the withdrawal of US forces from Niger. Addressing a virtual news conference after a meeting of African military leaders in Gaborone, Botswana, Langley expressed concern about extremist organizations exploiting instability in regions with weak governance, especially naming West Africa.

When asked whether Benin, Ghana or Ivory Coast are being considered for a US military base, Langley replied: “Yes, I’ve travelled across West Africa, across coastal West Africa. Those that are up against the growing threat, whether it’s on their borders or already across their borders… I listen to what they need to be successful.” (MyJoyOnline)

Map: World Sites Atlas

Extremely anomalous ocean heat content was also recorded last year. Normally, maximum ocean temperature is in March, at the end of the southern hemisphere summer. Instead, last year saw continued warming of the ocean surface from April right through to year’s end, with record temperatures for all of those months. (PRI, PBS NewsHour, EuroNews, The Hill)

Image: blende12/Pixabay

Main protest leader Oliver Barker-Wormawor emphasized the movement’s commitment to non-violence, and stopped short of calling for the resignation of President Nana Akufo-Addo. But some participants took a harder line. Prominent activist Bernard Mornah said: “Let President Akufo-Addo and the Ghana police service be told that anytime anyone resists peaceful change, violent change would occasion. We don’t want to engage in violence, but if they push us to the wall, we have no other option.”

Organized by a new coalition called Democracy Hub, the protest used the hashtag #OccupyJulorbiHouse. Julor Bi translates from the local Ga language as “Child of a Thief”—an obvious taunt at the government. (Jurist, AfricaNews, GhanaWeb, Pulse Ghana, GhPage)

The Ukraine war, with resultant disruption of wheat and hydrocarbon exports, has sparked an ongoing global food and energy crisis. The new Ghana protests come just as the price of oil approaches $100 a barrel for the first time since the immediate aftermath of the start of the invasion a year and a half ago. (NYT)

Photo: Jurist via GhanaWeb TV

The UNHCR called on Ghana to stop the deportations, saying that they amount to a violation of the non-refoulement principle. The agency urged the Ghanaian government to “guarantee access to the territory and asylum to nationals of Burkina Faso seeking international protection.”

The Ghanian Ministry of National Security has denied the allegations. Contrary to the report, it claims, the Ghana Refugee Board has collaborated with the UNHCR to set up a reception center with a capacity of 4,000 individuals in the Upper East Region. Currently, 530 displaced Burkinabé nationals are said to be accommodated there.

From Jurist, July 14. Used with permission.

Photo: Leonardo Perez Aranda via Wikimedia Commons

Globally, the bulk of known executions in 2022 were concentrated in five countries. China topped the list with presumed thousands of executions, followed by Iran and Saudi Arabia, Egypt with 24, and the US with 18 recorded executions. The Middle East and North Africa region accounted for 93% of known global executions, excluding those in China. Notably, Saudi Arabia recorded its highest total in 30 years.

There were also positive developments from a death-penalty abolitionist perspective in 2022, the report said. Six countries—Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Zambia— abolished or partially abolished the death penalty for various crimes. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) also saw an unprecedented number of member states supporting the adoption of a biennial resolution calling for a moratorium on executions and the eventual abolition of the death penalty. Close to two-thirds of UN member states, including Ghana, Liberia, and Myanmar (Burma), voted in favor of the resolution.

From Jurist, May 17. Used with permission.

Note: Burma, despite votiing for the UNGA moratorium resolution in December, actually carried out four executions in 2022, resuming the practice following a suspension of more than 30 years.

Photo: ICHRI

The town lies just south of the border with violence-torn Burkina Faso, and authorities are concerned that jihadist insurgents will exploit the chaos in the zone to infiltrate into Ghana. Bawku is already swollen with some 6,000 refugees who have fled terror attacks by militants in Burkina Faso. (The Africa Report, BBC News Pidgin, VOA)

Photo via Africa Fest GH